A Despicably Cruel Act

Our Towns

Colchester

The holiday heartache a Colchester family endured after their pet Siberian huskies ran off multiplied to a wrenching level Sunday when the animals were discovered shot to death in a wooded area.

Since their dogs' Dec. 12 disappearance, the MacLachlan family had spent endless hours driving around, calling the names of Cody and Yukon, hoping to hear a familiar bark. They put up signs and talked to scores of people who might have seen a wandering dog. They did what any owner would.

Anyone who has lost a pet understands the feelings of optimism and dejection that accompany such a search. Even as the animal remains missing longer and longer, the owner hopes a loving person has found it and is taking care of it.

The truth for the MacLachlans was a horrible contradiction to that hope.

Sunday, East Hampton hikers spotted one of the dogs in a wooded area, saw the purple collar, and remembered newspaper stories about the missing huskies. They called the MacLachlans. Jeff MacLachlan found Cody and Yukon near each other, dead from gunshot wounds.

It's hard to fathom the cruel impulse that makes a person shoot a dog. These animals clearly belonged to someone. Most people think of pets with friendly affection. Whoever shot the dogs lacked feelings.

Some speculated that a hunter killed the dogs for sport. But this miscreant was no sportsman. This was a malicious person who took pleasure in mindless meanness.

Finding the guilty party will be difficult. Even if police catch the person, the punishment isn't much of a deterrent. The case is being investigated as cruelty to animals -- misdemeanor punishable by a maximum $1,000 fine and one year in jail.

Police should look into other charges too. The huskies were valuable purebreds. Sadly, there may be a harsher punishment for the monetary loss than for the injury to a family's heart.